Timelines Aren't Always Written In Stone
by Minato's Legacy
Summary: Being left alone on that beach in Norway causes a whole lot of damage when something that was never supposed to escape gets out of the Void. Now all alone, armed with the forknowledge of the future, Rose Tyler will give it her all to fix her broken Doctor.
1. Prolouge

** Disclaimer: I seem to have misplaced my Tardis so give me a few years to find out how much I don't own Doctor Who. Now as all good authors say, onto the story!**

"Doctor Who?" regular speaking

_'Doctor Who?' _thinking

* * *

_'Forever. What is forever? Many people and religions have a concept of forever._

_ How can one debate the worth of a person's forever? A human may see forever as their whole life or their existence. An outsider may see forever as how long they are near the one who promised them their forever. The promise of forever isn't the same for many people. A wish of forever doesn't necessarily mean that both promised parties know exactly what their partner's concept of forever is._

_And what happens to someone whose promised forever is snatched away? The slip of a finger or the fire of a gun may damage a person's thoughts on what forever is._

_Forever is a nice word; it's meaning even better. It brings security and love however it can also be a curse. Ripped from the one you love without knowing their concept of forever will keep you second-guessing about if they really meant what they said._

_Because after all what is a human's concept of forever compared to my overwhelming lifetimes of forever that I have to deal with? Forever... it can be torture._

_All because of the slip of a finger, the sound of a gunshot and my unwillingness to tell her how much she meaned to me; how much I love her.'_

**Author's Note: ** Hello dear reader! This is my new muse about my absolute favorite couple in a TV show. Especially after 'Doomsday.' Now that I've fallen in love with the Doctor and Rose pairing I expect this story to take awhile. You probably won't get an update for along while because of the fact I want this story fully planned before I upload the actual first chapter. I apologize in advance for any grammatical or spelling errors.

Any flames received will be used to power my drive to write better. Don't for get to press that tiny little button to give me your thoughts on this. Anywho, have fun reading all the other great stories on this site!

~Minato's Legacy


	2. Chapter 1: To be Alone

_How's it going guys? I know that this has been a long time in coming and I have no excuse for that. I promise that this will not be dropped, nor will Time Falls Away. I have the plot for both fics written and I just need to write the chapters. Again I apologize for the wait and I hope this chapter makes up for it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own 'Doctor Who', Billie Piper, or David Tennent. If I did, 'Doomsday' would have never happened.  
_  
"talking"  
_'Thinking'_

Chapter 1: To Be Alone... It's Horrible

A loud metallic crash echoed through an abandoned alleyway as a young women with striking blond hair tripped over a discarded trash can lid. Her clothes were covered in dirt, sweat, and blood while her hair was matted with flecks of red and her face was covered with a light layer of dust. Her hazel eyes shown with a wild light and flitted around her taking in the front of the alley behind her. As she fell to the ground her right hand shot out to stop her fall.  
Her figure paused as she hovered a few inches above the ground, her breath coming in heavy puffs. Her senses spread out, checking to see if she was being followed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she brought her right hand back in front of her to help herself get off the ground. Her teeth gritted together when her hand met the ground and she gathered she strength before she pushed herself up. A low whimper escaped from between stiff lips and her eyes flooded with a heart wrenching pain. It betrayed her as she finally got her feet under her and rose up, her shoulder colliding with the brick wall beside her.  
She surveyed her position and tried to establish an escape route that was easy to access. The alley was like a really long hallway and it turned a corner farther down. Doors were spaced out between the walls with steps leading up to them. All of the windows she could see were boarded up with thick wooden beams to keep out intruders. She cast her eyes behind her, taking note of how the alley widened closer to the opening. The trash lid she tripped over was accompanied by it's trashcan and it's four buddies. The end of the alley was narrow, the opening just tall enough to let someone of her stature through. Tears welled up and she snapped her eyes closed. 'I will _not_ cry,' she thought and clenched them together harder  
"Rose?" came a man's voice from behind her, near the entrance to the alley she was now trapped in. She whirled around bringing both of her hands up and crouching down a bit, easily sliding into a defensive position. Rose studied the group in front of her.  
There were three figures, one with a much larger stature than Rose herself. The smallest figure was in between the wall and the second shortest figure. The group had paused when she spun around and was now crouched in a bit while keeping itself between her and the other two. Rose saw a flash of concerned warm chocolate brown eyes before a glimpse of a blue pinstriped suit. Her muscles loosened and relaxed, her body calming slightly as she recognized her persuers. She had barely registered what she had seen before her body reacted on it's own and launched itself at the middle figure. It caught her and she looked up into the innocent eyes of the Meta-crisis Doctor.  
The eyes displayed a childlike concern for her safety and a muted love for Rose. She breathed in and got the aroma of cinnamon, chocolate, and _Time_. Rose lowered her gaze and burrowed her head into his chest slightly scratching herself on the rough material. She felt a light, contented hum, like a cat's, vibrate it's way through his body before pulling back, moving her injured hand back to it's place by her side.  
"Soooo," he started, "the dalek is right on our tail. We need to get a move on and hurry up. We still have to meet a friend of mine to get the final part of your dimension cannon ready. Rose," he whined," what am I going to do? I need to have more measurements taken and I need to get it charged up - I brought your parents because Jackie threatened to slap me back into the other dimension (shut it alien!) and Pete threatened me with torture, which I am not too keen to try again - and I can't go and charge it on your primitive electricity. Good thing we already know the position and number of the original universe. Weeeell? Come on, Rose we don't have all day and I'm sure that when we get back to the Time Lord me he won't have a problem with us bursting through the walls of the dimension with, you know, all that has gotten thought the void. And it is his/my fault so we'll get over it," he pulled back a bit to see if he could identify the emotions on her face.  
Rose bit her lip and jumped out of his arms going over all that had led to this point with the Meta-crisis.

~~Bad Wolf Bay~~

The wind whipped past Rose's tear stained cheeks as the Tardis disappeared from her view for the last time. She turned back to Jackie and the blue-suited Doctor. She looked him over before deciding that he looked better in the brown pinstripes. Finally turning her gaze up into his eyes she gasped. No self-hatred and no thousand years of pain. He looked so young! The weight that always seemed to hang over him had apparently disappeared like mist on a sunny day.  
"Doctor, you alright?" she questioned.  
"Yep! Never been better" came the excited response. His eyes started gleaming as he launched into a monologue about all that he planned to do. "As soon as we leave this beach I'm going to go and get some jam. And toast. And marmalade. Ooooh and then I'm going to meet your little brother and see-"  
"Why do you look so much younger?  
"Ahh, that would be because the only part of me that got transferred over would be my knowledge. Not all that I experienced or all of my memories, well I do remember everything since the Time War," his eyes dulled and his face grew older right before Rose's eyes.  
"Well," she started trying to bring him out of his self-depreciating mood. "that still doesn't explain why you look like a little kid."  
"Technically I am."  
"What?"  
"Weelll," the Meta-crisis drawled, "I (am) only a few hours old in this body. What that basically does," he hurriedly got in when Rose opened her mouth. "is it tones down all that I've been through. It's like a mental block on all of my memories before the War. Think of it as, ah, as if the entire Time War was a bad dream. My body might have the appearance of a thirty-something-year-old but my mind is newly formed. Even though the Time War actually happened, to me it never was real.  
"Regenerating is a bit like this too except with a new body to get used to and I would still have all my memories."  
"So basically we can count this as a regeneration, right?" Rose asked.  
"Ah no, not really. Being dropped in Pete's World with you isn't bad but the trip though the Void to get here wasn't exactly _fun_ you could say, for me. This right here," he stretched his hand into his bigger on the inside pocket and started to pull out a piece of coral. "is the only reason that I'm still sane."  
"What is tha- oh," Rose gasped. "That's a piece of the Tardis! When, _how_ did you get that?"  
"Time Lord me wanted you to have the best time possible when he left you here so he shoved this in my pocket when we walked out the Tardis doors into this dimension. She's _supposed_ to grow and travel in this universe... but I don't think she'll make it."  
"Wh-, why not?" Rose's voice trembled.  
"Well maybe she will, let's not think about the worse possible scenario. I'm likely just overreacting and nothing's going to happen," he told her with forced cheer.  
"Right, so now we need to go back to Pete and get this show on the road."  
"Well there's one more thing I need to tell you, Rose Tyler I-"  
"Please don't," she whispered.  
"Rose, I'm not going to say what you think so don't worry," _'Even if I do love you... just not in the way you think. _"However I-"  
"Doctor! Rose!" shouted Jackie from behind them. They both jumped up in the air at least a foot before plastering matching grins on their faces and spinning around to face her. "Come on Pete just called. A zeppelin's gonna be here any second and I don't feel like waiting around on you two love-birds to get on with it."  
"Mu-"  
"Jack-"  
"Quiet! Let's go. You two didn't even notice the car pull up to take us to the zeppelin did you?"  
"There's a car?" Rose asked before looking behind her mum.  
About eight yards away from where her mum had been standing to give them some space was a Torchwood van. She felt the Meta-crisis beside her stiffen, before relaxing and moving behind her a bit. _'Well that's new. He normally pushes me behind him, or shoves'_  
"Oh, uhmm sorry Mum. We'll go ahead and get in the van," she reached and grabbed the Meta-crisis' hand and squeezed before walking to the van.

~~The Alley~~

They had only just gotten back when Pete had called telling them that someone had spotted a dalek. From there it had been a race against time and then the cybermen sightings had started. The Meta-crisis soon figured out that all the cybermen and all the daleks were about to bleed into Pete's World from a gape on their side of the Void.  
The Meta-crisis had no way to stop it with no grown Tardis. Then came the finishing blow, Torchwood had been destroyed. And then slowly one by one most of the governments had been taken over. Pete, her Mum, her, and the Meta-crisis were the only 'humans' still alive that hadn't been converted into a cyberman. At times like this Rose was happy that the Time Lord and Mickey had no idea what was happening in this dimension.  
"Doctor!" yelled the smallest one. "get your scrawny alien arse over here before I drag both you and Rose this way," she stalked up to him and he squeaked before leaping back, just barely getting away from the infamous Jackie Tyler slap. "We need you to stop fawning over Rose an start thinking up ideas to get all of us back to the you. Oh, this is more confusing than I thought. Can't we have a code for you?"  
"What?!" he shouted his face going to a deep red. " I'm not scrawny, it's a manly thin! And I'm _not_ doing anything to Rose. We already have been over that."  
"Well yeah but we've already been over that. You don't have-"  
"Quiet," Rose interrupted Jackie and the Meta-crisis's argument. "You need to lay off Mum. We all know that he wouldn't do anything to me, at all."  
"Yup," the Doctor agreed. 'I really never would' he thought.  
"I don't care we need to hurry and get back to the other dimension and try and stop all this insanity," replied Jackie.  
A sigh drew all three's attention .  
"Come on you three," Pete pleaded tiredly. "I know of a safe house built by Torchwood that only I as the Director know about."  
"But then wouldn't that be on Torchwood's records?" Rose questioned.  
"Not necessarily," the Doctor interjected. "See as the Director of such a vast organization Pete has the highest clearing of any worker. Since he is also the one who founded it, he can use it's funds without repercussions and he can do it in secrecy," he explained to Rose's and Jackie's confused faces.  
"Well your correct," Pete stated proudly.  
"Alrighty then."  
"So where is this house than?" Rose asked her voice almost sounding fond of the Doctor and Pete's conversations.

"Oh yeah," Pete replied sheepishly. " Its on the coast, near... where the Doctor left you and Jackie.

"Oh," Rose whimpered.

A gasp put all conversation on a hold as the Meta-crisis bent over at the waist, his hands flying up to hold onto his temples. A pained graon escaped him before the Tyler family lept into action.

Jackie chanced a glance over at her daughter as she and Pete helped the Doctor to his knees without the man face-planting into the ground. While this might have made Jackie's day over in the other universe, now it just filled her heart with pain. Even her teasing of the Doctor had been toned down because of the sheer innocent look in his eyes whenever she would insinuate something between him and Rose. She know counted him as a part of her family.

"Jackie, Pete, Rose," the Doctor huffed out, hesitance and acceptance coating his despondent tone, "I'm sorry."

"What for," all three intoned at the same time before glancing at each other and then back to the Meta-crisis.

"I can't stay with you much longer," at this announcement Rose's eyes widened and tears started to gather at hte corners. "There isn't a Tardis around to keep my Time Lord Half from overloading my human half."

"What do you mean?" Rose's voice quaveringly questioned. "We have the Tardis coral isn't that enough?" As soon as the words left her mouth the Meta- crisis' face took on a pained frown.

"No Rose, no we don't. The coral the..." he trailed off trying to come up with a word that described his counterpart in plain terms. "The original Doctor gave us can't survive here. The original Tardis has spent too much time back in the other universe. She was an old she when we stole her and now," his voice started to shake, the reality of what was going to happen scaring him to the core. "now even her seedlings are ingrained with the energy that the other universe's Time Vortex gave off. The seed, she," he choked on the rest of the sentance, a sob bubbling up his throat. His brown orbs caught Rose's and she felt her heart break at the devistation and hopelessness welling in them. He sucked in a breath before continuing, "She's gonna die Rose! And there is nothing I can do to stop it, or even slow it down," he all but wailed.

Jackie and Pete glanced at each other coming to a silent decision to let the two sort it out on their own while they checked at the alley's entrance to see if the group had been followed. So far the only reason they were lucky enough to be alive was because of the lone dalek on their side of the void was off exterminating the remaining Cybermen.

Jackie glanced over at her daughter huddled over the Meta-crisis. Her heart clenched at the look of desperation in his eyes. She'd seen the same look when Rose had run home crying about the bullies that beat her up. The question that so desperatly needed to be answered but that not always had an answer._ 'Yes,' _she thought to herself, _'even though he has the body of the Doctor, he has the mind of a child.' _Jackie saw it clearly in the way he held himself when he met people who he didn't know. How he tried to shove his wirey frame behind Rose. She knew that the Doctor had planned for many things but even he couldn't have predicted his clone to end up with a child-like mentality. He made her think of Tony before-. She cut herself off of that train of thought. Nothing good would come of it.

Rose gathered her arms around the Meta-crisis before slowly starting to rock him back and forth whispering words of comfort in his ears. He opened his eyes right as her Mum walked over, rubbing her hand through his hair with all the care of a mother before bending at the waist and planting a kiss on his forehead. When his eyes went wide she just smiled gently before taking Pete's arm and hurrying off to the entrance of the alley.

Rose glanced after them before gazing back down at the man in her arms and asking the question she dreaded the answer to.

"What's gonna happen to you?" she asked quietly.

"I'm gonna ...," his voice trailing into a pained murmur while the tears gathered again. "I'm gonna be overwhelmed by my memories, and the brain capacity of my Time Lord physiology. My human brain won't be able to handle all the stimulints coming in. The instance that Tardis coral dies I will... go insane and the neural contamination will start causing the pathways in my brain to decay at a rapid pace before," the Meta-crisis swallowed hard his voice dropping even lower, "before I die."

Rose's thoughts shut down and a whimper escaped her throat.

"You're gonna leave me again?" she questioned her tone coming out as lost.

"Nope!" the Meta-crisis cried out, popping the 'p'. His brown eyes sparkled with a manitic gleam and a wide grin overtook his entire face. "I'm going to get you back to the Time Lord me! His thoughts burned my mind when you kissed me." He frowned. "Come to think of it, his entire presence burned. Anyway, I've called someo-" he cut off the rest of his sentence with a moan of pain that rumbled up through his chest.

"What's wrong?" Rose pleaded frantically.

"Just some," he stopped sucking down a deep breath of air before slowly letting it out, to Rose's frustration. "difficulties. The Tardis coral is slowly going out and she can't keep pushing the senses of a Time Lord to the side. She's still trying though," a proud grin settled onto his lips before his eyes slid shut a a whimper was forced through his lips. Rose gazed at him in sympathy. She pulled him closer and held on tighter to him while restarting the rocking motion she had started earlier, cradling him like a child. The Meta-crisis breathed out a sigh as she ruffled a hand through his hair. A soft almost unnoticable purr vibrated in his lungs and caused the two to grin soft smiles gracing their faces.

"Doctor! Rose!" shouted a voice from the alleyway. The couple's heads whipped around to find a frantic Pete racing towards them. Almost instantly they jumped to their feet as Pete neared them. As he got closer, Rose noticed that his cheeks were red and that there was something wrong.

"Dad," she questioned as he threw a panicked look at her. "... Where's Mum?"

His face crumpled and his mouth dropped open to explain yet no sounds came out. Rose's eyes went wide, and her whole countance dropped as Pete hesitated to make a sound.

"No," she whinned. She lent around her father watching the opening of the alley expecting her mother to run around the corner before cracking a joke about how Rose shouldn't doubt her. The seconds dragged on as a conclusion got dragged to the forefront of her mind. Her Mum might not be coming back. As soon as that thought was whispered from the recesses of her mind Rose felt her world start to crumble. She had thought years ago, when the daleks and cybermen were having their little spat that she could actually leave her Mum behind to go with the alien she loved. Back then she could have dealt with it. But now after her younger brother had already been ripped from her and losing her love not once, but twice, she couldn't deal with it.

Rose slowly turned her head to the Meta-crisis. His eyes were as stricken as she bet her face was but he collected himself enough to open his arms for her.

Rose spun around and hurled herself into his arms for a second time as she squeezed her eyelids shut, trying in vain to slop the sudden flood of tears. She felt as his arms came to wrap around her head bending down to rest by her ear as he murmured words of comfort to her. She couldn't feel anything. Her Mum, Jackie Tyler, the first women to dare and slap the Doctor, was gone. Rose wouldn't be able to go into the kitchen to have 'girl talks' with her mother. No more tea time where the two of them would curl up in front of the television and watch Eastenders. She would no longer wake up in the middle of the night and be able to walk into their kitchen and see her mother waiting for her with a hot cuppa. Her rock was gone.

Eventually she was able to actually feel the arms around her and the hand pressed into her back that she believed to be her father.

"Rose," Pete choked out, "we have to leave. It was a dalek that got her. And I can bet you that dalek believes that we are still alive and is probably looking for us at the moment."

She slowly pulled her head out of the Doctor's chest and decided that it was time for them to get moving. She brushed her hair back while turning around to face her sort-of father. One of her hands grasped out for him knowing what her was going through. She had never forgiven herself for not saving the Jackie Tyler of this universe, and felt horible that she had to bring another woman into his life that was easily ripped away.

If this alternate father of hers was anything like the one in her universe, Rose dreaded the determined look in his hard expression.

Grasping behind her for the hand that had always fit in her own, she held tight as she gave her father a pleading look, begging for direction on what she needed to do. Pete's face softened.

"Alright," he said, "I came from around the left corner to get here. You two need to head to the right and run as fast as you can. I'll catch up with you if I can."

Rose looked up sharply at him, a questioning look on her face before it cleared and she reached out to grab his hand tightly.

"You are coming with me and the Doctor," she stated.

"No," Pete answered as his eyes turned to steel. "I'm going to hold off the dalek so you can escape. It's what you mother would have wanted. For you to go on and live you life with the man you love."

Pete's words sounded so like another goodbye that Rose's breath caught in her throat. It reminded her of a daft faced man that she had fallen in love with. His blue eyes that lit up with joy when everyone was saved or when she was able to solve a math problem of his own design, or that would turn into a midnight blue when innocent lives were threatened. She gulped down around the lump that had formed in her throat. Rose would be damned if she let another one that she loved die.

"But you can't survive," she told him.

" Ahhh, but you don't know that, do you?" he asked. Pete turned his head to the Doctor, before beconing him forward. He gave the Meta-crisis a hug and spoke into to his ear where Rose wouldn't be able to listen in. "Keep her safe. I have no idea how long I'll be able to stall it. And know this, you might be a clone be to me you are still the Doctor. Now don't let her slow do for me." Pete pulled away and adressed his daughter, "I love you, Rose," he said quietly before turning around to jog back to the alley's entrance.

"I love you, Dad!" Rose yelled as Pete turned the corner to go left. A grim smile parted his lip before he took off.

A tug at Rose's hand brought her attention to the Doctor as he pulled her into a slow run for them.

"Come on, we need to get away as fast as we can," he huffed out, pulling her to the right before starting to run at full speed. Rose followed numbly her mind blank.

The Doctor glanced back at her a few times as they sped through the rubble of what was once Cardiff. As they arrived at a center of a commons, the Doctor abruptly stopped. A gust of breath escaped his lungs as Rose slammed into his back, not expecting his stop.

"What's wrong?" she asked before removing her face from wher it had plated inself into the Doctor's back. She brought her head up and a small 'oh' fled her lips as she took in her surroundings.

All the exits were covered with cybermen in a line formation preventing their escape. The Doctor started to push back against Rose, silently erging her to turn. He was meet with her unbudging back.

"Rose, run," he whipered urgently before turning himself and catching sight of what stopped Rose and caused his blood to turn to ice in his veins.

_Please don't hate for the cliffie._


End file.
